I’ll never forget the day I scored my first interview with the CEO of General MotorsCo. (NYSE: GM).

This was in May of 1980, and I was brand new to Detroit. I’d been a reporter for all of 15 months – in fact I was by far the youngest journalist on the cutthroat automotive news “beat.”

And I’d landed a sit-down with the leader of one of the most powerful companies on earth.

I was seriously stoked … until I looked in my closet, and took an honest look at the single suit that I owned.

It was a bargain-basement suit. It wasn’t classy. It wasn’t something I could build a wardrobe around. And it wasn’t something I’d be taken seriously wearing.

I didn’t hesitate: I went right to the city’s best haberdasher, and bought an Oleg Cassini suit – one I knew would fit in well with GM’s button-down culture.

It cost me my entire paycheck, so the outlay was a bit painful. But the payoff was both immediate – and long lasting.

I was welcomed into that interview feeling like a million bucks. I left with a Page One story – and a newfound confidence that has accompanied me for the rest of my career.

The best investments in life are often like that: They may seem pricey – or even painful – when you make them. But they are actually “foundational” in nature – providing the kind of hefty and lasting payoff that you’d never get from a bargain-basement counterpart.

And today I’m going to show you a stock that can do for you what that Oleg Cassini suit did for me.

On Friday, tech bellwether Microsoft Corp. released a quarterly earnings report that was so bad that one analyst referred to it as “a comedy of errors” – kneecapping the stock by 11%.

Welcome to “earnings season,” the rush of quarterly financial reports that, four times each year, can make or break individual stocks.

But this season is different.

Over the next three weeks, the tech-stock rally that has helped push the U.S. stock market to new record highs faces an intensely critical test.

The fact is that we are now more than four years into a bull market that has seen stock prices more than double from their 2009 lows.

Let’s be clear: Four years is one heck of a long time for a market to rally without experiencing a major correction. So the sales, profit and forecast reports that we’re going to see this week – and in the two weeks that follow – will likely tell us if the rally continues from here … or begins to weaken.

So today I’m going to show you exactly what to look for and how to analyze what you find.

Just a few years ago – before most folks even knew what it was – Michael Robinson said the 3D printing market was experiencing scorching growth, and said it would very quickly turn into a trillion-dollar business.

But here’s the best part: Because of new technologies – not to mention all sorts of new uses that seem to be increasing by the day – Michael says that investors who move right now can get in on the “ground floor” of that trillion-dollar opportunity.

To talk about the profit opportunity that 3D printing poses, and to give you a rundown on some of the players, Michael sat down for a conversation this week with Money Map Press Executive Editor William Patalon. Here’s a transcript of their talk.

And that isn’t some “come-on.’ The strategy that I’m about to describe is very real. It’s a slam-dunk winner – backed up by years of statistics – and, most important of all, is one way to really juice up your portfolio gains.

When the scenario plays out as I’m about to describe, you buy shares in one great technology company – but end up with investments in two separate firms.

And that second stock is “free.”

Investment pros refer to these as “special situations” – and with good reason. Opportunities like this don’t come along very often – which is why they are, in fact, “special.”

But individual investors tend to miss them – and the market-thrashing profits they tend to generate.

I don’t want you to miss out – which is why I’m writing this.

You see, one of these “two-for-one” profit plays has just hit my radar screen.

The technology I want to tell you about today is one of my best investment ideas.

And not just because it saved my life.

I’m talking about “location-based services,” the technology that allows your smartphone to show where you are … or tell you where you need to go.

It’s a technology that has double-your-money profit potential because of all it can do. It can help you find the nearest retail sale, guide you to the seafood house where you have reservations, or get you to a hotel for a good night’s sleep.

It can also help you avoid costly navigation errors – and not just in a car.

Two summers ago, while sailing with my crew out on San Francisco Bay, an exceptionally heavy fog rolled in. We grabbed a smartphone, discovered we were off course, and traversed the dangerous Berkeley Reef – which would have ripped our keel right off had we not turned.

And the drama involving location-based-service technology doesn’t end there.

You see, this market has finally reached critical mass and is poised to skyrocket.

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